European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 4, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse S t a t e 5 i d e Jack Kevorkian is hugged by Dawn Haselhuhn president of friends of or. Kevorkian a during a break in one of his earlier trials in Michigan. Death not an easy thing for Kevorkian by Julia Prodis. The associated press s sometimes he a sometimes he s satisfied sometimes he fee is almost nothing. But every time or. Jack Kevorkian helps someone commit suicide he Breaks into a Little sweat. A Quot in All cases i Felt uneasy Quot said Kevorkian who was found innocent monday of assisting the suicide of a 30-year-old Man in the first trial under a Michigan Law passed specifically to Stop him. Whether in the Back of his Rusty old Van in a closed office on a sunday morning in a Remote Cabin or at a Rural Campground the retired pathologist said he had the same worries every time he helped someone take his or her a life. A a a a a a a a a v a. A would the death go smoothly would the lethal Carbon monoxide work quickly what if someone tried to Stop them what if he was arrested since 1990, Kevorkian has been at the Side of 20 people in their last. ,. Moments. Supporters believe he is an Angel of mercy. Opponents say he is a Demon of death. Quot i see him As a Loving person who is. Willing to risk his own self to help people out of their misery Quot said Janet Good president of the Michigan Hemlock society which advocates physician assisted suicide. But to Lynn Mills of the anti abortion group operation Rescue Kevorkian is evil incarnate Quot i see him As satan himself Quot she said. Quot i think 50 years from now when. Everyone can look at it More clearly and see the effects of what he s done he will not go Down As a hero hell go Clown As a _ the 65-year-old Kevorkian sees _ himself in simpler terms. Quot i m just a physician doing what he should do Quot he said. For most of his life Kevorkian worked in relative obscurity performing autopsies studying death and writing about it for medical journals. He proposed building a network of Quot suicide centers Quot where people could go to die and doctors could Harvest their organs and perform experiments on their bodies. He earned the nickname or. Death in the late 1950s, when he would cruise the Halls of a Detroit Hospital wearing a Black armband and looking for dying people. Researching a 19th-Century method of determining the moment of death he would peer into the eyes of the just dead. ,. Quot i m not fascinated by death Quot he said. Quot i m interested in death it s fun to dig into what s but his dark eyes fire when he Speaks of the Quot cowards Quot and Quot religious fanatics Quot who oppose him. When he gets riled he shakes his Bony Finger in a one s face. A gaunt and Sallow Kevorkian cuts his own hair military Short wears clip on ties and prefers to use the same plate and Fork for every he lives alone in a Lakeside Eouse loaned him by his wealthy lawyer Geoffrey Fieger. He does t like it it s too isolated and he could do without the views of the Lake and geese. Quot i m no romantic Quot he said. He preferred his spartan apartment on Royal Oak s main Street rickety and unadorned not unlike his own appearance. There he was Content to listen to Bach play with Jigsaw puzzles and throw an occasional poker party. He had to move earlier this year when plans were made to demolish the decrepit building. At his new address his lawyer encouraged him to return to an old Hobby painting. So far he has done two macabre and surreal oils calling them War and fever one shows a decapitated Jaked Torso Fork and knife in hand a ready to dig into its own severed head which is oozing blood on a Platter. The other. Depicts the nude body of an agonizing Man his Bones red hot from fever showing through his skin like an a Ray he plans to auction the paintings to raise Money for his Campaign to legalize assisted suicide in team of volunteers is collecting signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the november said he never expected his suicide practice to stir up such a social Hurricane. He Only wanted to help four or five people i themselves with the suicide machine he invented then write a scholarly article. A a Quot All i wanted was to write an article for a medical journal saying look this is one Way to do it Quot he said. Quot everything that happened was totally subject unlikely sheriff draws fire from his critics by Mary Foster the associated press Harry Lee is not what Many people expect a Southern sheriff to be. Then again maybe he is. With his Cowboy hats and boots country music and Hunting trophies Lee leaves Tittle doubt about his South Louisiana roots. On the other hand he is a chinese american with a Law degree and a lengthy background in Public service including work for a congressman noted for his Early support for integration. A Lee 62, a Louisiana born son of immigrants believes his record on civil rights should speak for itself. Instead he has been criticized for his Blunt statements and hard nosed Law enforcement and his open anger at Blacks who accused his department of brutality. Quot in truth and in fact Lam the furthest thing you can find from a racist Quot said Lee sheriff for 14 years in Jefferson Parish a new Orleans suburb of about 450,000 people approximately 78 percent of them White. Quot the things that i do it s not a racist thing. It just so happens that the people who Are committing the crimes Are mostly _ racial tensions in a my Jefferson Parish Are pfc High and a group of f Black citizens met with 7 a gov. Edwin Edwards a last month to ask him to intervene. Edwards a Friend of Leeds agreed to mediate a meeting Between the sheriff and his critics. The troubles can be. Traced Back to 1986, when White upper class Harry Lee neighbourhoods were hit by a series of. Robberies in which two you Rig Black men followed people Home and robbed them in their driveways. Lee wasted no time issuing orders. V\7 \ a a. It a a Quot if we see two Young Blacks driving a Ricky Dink car in a predominantly White neighbourhood they la be stopped Quot Lee said., when people living in a drug plagued area asked him to get rid of the dealers and Stop the killing Lee ordered spot searches. Quot i know people Are offended when they re stopped and patted Down in their own neighbourhoods but other than that we can t get rid of the druggies Quot Lee said. Lee grew up in new Orleans during segregation. From j 966-1977, he was an aide to the late Hale Boggs one of the few Southern congressmen who supported civil rights legislation. A As a . Magistrate in the Earty 70s, Lee said he developed a reputation As a Liberal. Quot i let so Many Blacks out of jail on writs of Hareas Corpus they nicknamed me the slant eyed Abe Lincoln Quot Lee said. A and despite the recent controversy Leeds. Popularity has remained High in mostly White Jefferson Parish. Quot i hate that this has come Down to a Black White thing a Lee said. A maybe something Good will come of it though. It May not be the right Way to say it but Blacks know who the bad Guys in their communities Are and they better Start telling . Wednesday May 4, 1994 the stars and stripes 17
